Ah consistency, what does it actually mean when it comes to showing up for your small business on Instagram?
Image of my wonderful brand photography client Susan Watson
Well, first off, don’t confuse CONSISTENCY with CONSTANTLY. Yup, read that again.
Being consistent with your Instagram marketing for your small business means whatever works for you, any more than that will lead to you becoming overwhelmed and can actually have a negative affect on your business.
It can look a bit like this:
You have a new account or a new product launch, you’re excited to get it out there and so you go full pedal to the metal. You’re posting every day twice a day.
Then the excitement around it all dies down. You have to think of other things to post to mix your content up a bit but you’re burnt out from creating content and can’t think of anything. You see your Instagram growth and engagement slowing down as you take a few days off from posting and this disheartens you so you stop posting altogether for a bit. Rinse and repeat.
Not only is this an exhausting cycle for you as a small business owner, it’s very confusing for your audience too. If you show up every day twice a day your audience are going to get used to that. Your ideal clients will look for you. Then when you start to disappear they wonder if something is wrong. Have you gone out of business? Are you unreliable? Inconsistency is not a good look.
To combat this, I recommend you be realistic about what consistency looks like for you and your life.
If posting good, quality content twice per week is what’s realistic and manageable for you then that’s what to do. Your audience will be happy with that and will look for you twice per week. Of course you can show up spontaneously over and above those posts, that's your call and will be a bonus for your audience. If every day is manageable for you then that’s also great. Consistency doesn’t mean constantly, it means regularly. That’s all. Don’t be showing up full on then disappearing for weeks, as that sends out that confusing message.
Use a planning system to plan your Instagram week ahead realistically to ensure you know what your priorities for posting are in advance and you set up a schedule to help you stay on track. The Sunday Club Social Media Planner is a great tool to help you do this.
Not only is it an excellent pen to paper planner, it also comes with a video workshop to talk you through how to get the most out of the planner and a FREE private group with lots of motivation and encouragement. Check it out here and pop me a DM on Instagram @amandahughes.uk with a screenshot of your order and I'll add you into the private group straight away.
Side note: When considering your posting schedule you should of course take your small business goals into account. If you are using Instagram as your main marketing platform and you want to achieve x amount of product sales in the week ahead, do bear in mind that the frequency of your posts will affect your reach and in turn, the impact on your goal. Posting good quality content that speaks directly to your ideal clients twice per week is of course fab, but just be realistic in your expectations that posting twice per week vs posting on Instagram every day, will have a lower reach because, of course, there is less content and less opportunity to show your posts to your followers and non followers.
I feel like this may be another blog post altogether, stay tuned!
Until next time,
Amanda
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